Croatian central bank governor, Boris Vujčić, is the name confirmed to be appointed as the next ECB vice president. He will be presiding over a non-negotiable 8-year term, taking over from Spain’s Luis de Guindos starting 1 June. There’s no drama or controversy with this one as de Guindos is ending his own 8-year term on 31 May.
And under EU law, members of the ECB executive board cannot be reappointed. As such, de Guindos will be departing the central bank when his term expires in about two months from now.
On Vujčić’s appointment, it’s quite the symbolic gesture. That especially when you consider that Croatia had only joined the euro in 2023. He was also a key figure in making that transition happen, but to be bestowed upon the second in-command post at the ECB is quite something.
It’s a bit of a rarity when it comes to the ECB, in which the top jobs tend to fall to the bigger nations so to speak. Then again, this feels like a power play by EU leaders as well to be honest.
As a reminder, ECB chief economist Philip Lane will see his own term expire on May next year. Meanwhile, ECB president Christine Lagarde will see her term expire on October next year. With regards to Lagarde, she might even be departing the central bank earlier than that.
Taking into account that there will be upcoming vacancies soon, the appointment of Vujčić is sort of one to balance out the geopolitical scales within the EU itself. Normally, you get the north versus south debate or to put it more crudely the bigger nations versus the periphery nations.
As such, one can safely infer that EU leaders are well considering that so as to appoint one of the bigger names in this game of musical chairs. If Germany or Spain takes up the top post at the central bank, you can bet that France will want a say in having a name for the chief economist post.
So, putting Vujčić as vice president sort of allows for a “simpler” play of events going into next year.
